- Complete a Self-Assessment and Create a Skills Inventory: evaluate past activities that have been most important in making you unique and valuable. Consider: successful accomplishments, school contributions, achievements at work and other proud moments.
- Define Your Accomplishments: use the STAR (situation, time, action, result) method to show achievements and accomplishments. By highlighting the results of your actions, as well as your skills, attributes, and experience, it will allow employees to see not only what you did, but how well you did it. Example: Supervised over 12 students in daily activities, which also included developing and facilitating sports skill workshops in basketball and soccer, creating a heightened sense of team spirit and a fun environment.
- Use Resume Sections/Headings to Emphasize Your Value: organize your résumé according to the following sections:
Header
Begin your résumé with your name, address, email address, LinkedIn URL (optional), and phone numbers. It is preferable not to include any personal information such as birth date, marital status, or health.
Section 1: Education
Education represents the top one-third of your resume. Academic experience should be listed in reverse chronological order, to indicate the most recent program first. Be sure to include dates (e.g., expected date of completion: April 2012). Do not include coursework/special projects unless it is relevant to the role.
Section 2: Work Experience
This section appears directly after Education. Use accomplishment-oriented bullet-points (what, where how well etc…..,) to describe your STAR stories. Begin each job description bullet with an action verb that describes exactly what you did. (e.g., analyzed, performed, directed, produced, managed etc. I try not to use phrases such as ‘responsible for. Be skills oriented, not duty oriented Avoid unsubstantiated self-describing general statements, such as I’m creative, dynamic, a quick learner, a hard worker, “and so on. Quality your statements with facts, for example, ‘Was commended for my creativity in developing a new marketing strategy. “
Section 3: Career Related Skills
Include computer-related skills (program software) with your level of knowledge and proficiency. Also list achievements that would directly enhance your brand and that relate to the role. If you have second language skills (oral or written), be sure to include this information and your proficiency!
Section 4: Volunteer Experience
Be sure to highlight any relevant volunteer activities, especially if they demonstrate leadership skills and competencies. These experiences and attributes are what set you apart from other candidates.
Section 5: Extracurricular Activities and Interests
Include extracurricular experiences that link to your Competencies and overall personal brand. Activities can include sports memberships, affiliations, hobbies, and other interests. Be sure to include the name of the organization you are affiliated with, as well as their city and province. Sharing such interests offers a “well-rounded” appearance.
- Five Ps to Consider 10 guarantee your resume is easy to read and error-free, be sure to review the packaging, positioning, power information, personality, and professionalism!
- Packaging:
- Paper should be white or light colored; do not use graphics or color.
- Use a readable, professional looking font in 10 or 11 pt (Tahoma, Arial, Verdana) and only use one font type throughout; your name should be no larger than 16 pt (header)
- Do not use templates, instead create your own Word document
‘ Single spacing should be used within each section and margins should be no less than 0.5 and no greater than 1’
- Positioning:
- Résumé should be read in reverse chronological order under each section/heading.
- Education: degree, major/specialization on first line in bold; university name, location, and date (positioned at right margin) on second line, not bold.
- Employment: position title and department should appear on first line in bold; company name, location, and date (at right margin) on second line, not bold.
Ill. Power Information:
- Make use of STAR statements to demonstrate what, why, how, when, and the result
- Work experience must include results/outcomes and try to quantify these where possible (i.e., “Increased sales by 10 percent”; “Handled cash up to $10K per shift*; “Supervised a five-member team*)
- Do not list duties or tasks, instead use past-tense action verbs.
- Use bullet points (3-5 per work experience) and only one sentence per point.
- Most significant and/or relevant aspects of the role should be listed first, then inserted bullets in descending order of importance.
Iv. Personality:
- Utilize sections under volunteer/activities/interests to demonstrate your well-roundedness by promoting your extracurricular involvement.
- Do not underestimate the value of volunteer or
summer employment; these experiences offer
many transferrable skills. - Avoid word repetition and reduce word count where possible (i.e., “to” vs. “in order to)
- Professionalism:
- Check, double-check, and check again for spelling and grammatical errors-a single mistake on a résumé can take you out of the running.
- Spell out numbers one to ten and use numbers 11 and above.
- Spell out months and university degrees completely the first time, followed by acronym in brackets; the acronym can then be used throughout the remainder of the document.
- Getting your Résumé Market Ready: consider Does my résumé reflect the brand I want to represent, and does it effectively communicate this brand to employers? To ensure your résumé is market ready and attractive to recruiters, use the following exercise to determine if your résumé is demonstrating the skills required of your market and position.
- List the key competencies you have identified as essential in the role.
- Does your résumé effectively highlight these
competencies? - Are there any gaps? What do you lack? Which skills are missing?
A Note on Social Media and Your Online Brand:
While it is optional for candidates to include their Linkedin URL within the résumé header, it is not recommended that they include their Facebook URL, as this is a social network rather than a professional association. It is important that candidates be always aware of their online brand. Ensure privacy settings are in place to prevent public profile viewing If you have a profile picture viewable on Linkedln and/or Facebook, ensure it is a professional, conservative photo.
